Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Ricardo Darín, Oscar Martínez, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Érica Rivas, Rita Cortese, Julieta Zylberberg, Darío Grandinetti, María Onetto, María Marull, Mónica Villa, César Bordón, Leonardo Sbaraglia, Walter Donado, Nancy Dupláa, Oscar Martínez, Germán de Silva, Diego Gentile.
There are films that come along that just take your breath away. Whether it is for the scenery, the sheer animal magnetism between protagonists and leading artists, the story line or the images that seem ahead of their time; film has the power to shock, to captivate and to believe that anything is still possible. In the world of cinema and for the first time in what seems an interminable age, Spanish language film Wild Tales does everything you want it to and perhaps with great sincerity, some things you don’t want it to.
Wild Tales is arguably one of the best black comedy films to come out of seemingly nowhere for so long. It has no agenda other than to make you think just how far anger and frustration will go in the make-up of revenge. It has often been said that those that plot revenge had best dig two graves, for once every single frame of the six stories has been digested, two graves is nearly not enough for this superbly scripted selection of tales in which not even the great Roald Dahl would have gone as far to visualise.
Six tales of revenge, six short stories that you can only wonder just how far people will go in seeking retribution with violence. Whilst in the current climate, the first tale, although brilliantly envisioned and worthy of the great Roald himself, might just be a tale to avoid, the other five see acts of revenge and violence that are so compelling that they cannot be avoided.
With tales involving a Stephen Spielberg like moment in the fantastic Dennis Weaver film Duel, El Más Fuerte (The strongest), an almost true-life depiction of what happens when the state takes too much from one person in Bombita (Little Bomb) and the absolute tour de forcé film closer in Hasta que la muerte nos separe (Until Death Do Us Part), are ravishing to the extreme, they are the near ultimate in black comedy.
With scene stealing performances from the likes of Ricardo Darín in Little Bomb, Leonardo Sbaraglia in The Strongest and the outrageously superb Érica Rivas as the bride who has lost control in Until Death Do Us Part, Wild Tales is going to surely be a contender for best foreign language film at next year’s award ceremonies.
A film of extremes and one that revels in the aspect of revenge but one with many messages behind it, a film that dares you to contemplate such revenge and shows you where it will lead you. The path to Hell is a fine one, narrow, unyielding and full of anger, Wild Tales has it all.
Ian D. Hall